Will Oldham goes to Nashville – and shows Country how he should sound today.
That went quickly. Only a few seconds have passed, so Willham is already at his favorite topic: godfather death. “Turned to Dust (Rolling On)”, the opening song by The Purple Bird, the 22nd album of his age ego Bonnie “Prince” Billy, has the knowledge in the chorus: We will all soon become dust, but we will make it until then Stop so. You could also read the piece as a comment on the post-election cat in the polarized states of America, because the stanza states: “Right is right / Wrong is wrong / no matter which side you’Re standing on / can’t we All Just Get Along? “
If it were actually meant politically, it would be a rare turn to topicality for Oldham, the now 54-year-old has been working on his own timelessness for a long time. This also fits the move with the country producer David “Ferg” Ferguson, who also acted as a co-author with a good half of the songs, and country studio musicians in the Country highburg Nashville. Of course, this is of course also a Bonnie “Prince” brilliant album. Because there are typical, melancholy-long bonnie songs such as “Downstream” or “Sometimes It’s Hard to Breathe”, but also a saloon sound like “Guns are for cowards”, which is almost a caricature not only through the absurd text .
However, these two ideas come together more often, not only in “New Water”, and then it is as if Oldham are bowing in front of Nashville and, invisible to the country purists, then smile. It’s a fine smile, a respectful one, but secretly the smile knows: I just showed you how Country should sound today.
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